The G-8 comes to my neck of the woods

Frederick County, Maryland, USA. It’s a relatively normal place…normal being relative anywhere, I suppose. It’s home to about 235,000 souls, and is roughly 670 square miles in area. You can drive from one end of the county to another in under 30 minutes, whether it’s north-south or east-west.

I’ve call FredCo home for 13 years now. As with most who moved here in the 90’s, it was the only place in the Baltimore/Washington corridor where we could afford a larger house with a yard.

But FredCo has within its borders something that sets it apart from other mostly rural counties in Maryland. Just outside of Thurmont, a mere 15 minute drive from the city of Frederick, is a little place called Camp David. And, suddenly, this weekend Frederick County is on the map.

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 This morning a few G-8 protesters were gathering in Thurmont, painting signs and gathering on street corners to share their thoughts about world affairs.

Richard Ochs and Donna Plamondon, two members of Occupy Baltimore, expected to be joined by about a dozen others from their group. They prepared signs near the Weis grocery at the southern end of the city.

Outdoors, reporters and law enforcement outnumbered residents and protesters before 11 a.m. Protesters said they had no plans to be destructive, but wanted to let government officials know that they are dissatisfied with the status quo. Nine Occupy New Haven members arrived by car after camping nearby.

Barbara Barbe was out front of Brown’s Jewelry & Gift store watching the morning’s activity.

“Every other car’s a police car,” Barbe said.

She and police shared the opinion that all seemed to be calm and friendly under the sunny skies.

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Notwithstanding the nonchalance of the local paper, the truth on the ground is that there is great deal of apprehension around FredCo. The local hospital is on high alert, with mandatory on-site staff presence and a makeshift triage – “just in case” – in the cafeteria. The local news-talk radio station is sending out special emails reminding listeners to tune to 930 AM for the latest information.

Anyone who has followed the news, even casually, over the past decade knows that a G-8 or G-20 summit usually means riots in the host city. I’m not sure where the protesters could riot in FredCo. Thurmont is a spec on the map, and Frederick city is not exactly Metropolis. Maybe they can meet at FSK Mall, or Baker Park. I dunno.

If anything of interest happens, I’ll make a follow-up post. Otherwise, you’ll know that it was just another ordinary, quiet weekend in the sticks.

Why the desire to pull the troops out of Iraq in the first place?

*posted first on Friday Feb. 10, here*

In the Australian today:

NO sooner did President Barack Obama welcome home American troops from Iraq and laud that country’s stability and democracy than an unprecedented wave of violence across Baghdad and elsewhere revealed the severity of Iraq’s political crisis.

Unfortunate, yet hardly surprising, even to the most casual of observers.

And whilst I can understand (yet not agree with) the Left’s position not to send troops into Iraq in the first place – an argument, largely moot, for another day – what I don’t understand is their fervish desire to pull the troops out.

It always smacked of idealism, ideology, rather than hard-nosed practicality.

After all, what was so bad with having a US troop presence there to help maintain Iraq’s fragile democratic stability?

One could argue that I am biased because a) I am centre-right politically and b) because I live in South Korea, a nation that has had a US troop presence – some 37,000  28,000 or so currently – since the armistice between North and South Korea and have seen what a permanent US troop presence looks like.

I am happy to accept those labels and can gladly tell you that such a presence ain’t that bad.

By and large,  US bases in Korea – and Japan for that matter – haven’t been a problem.

Sure, issues pop up from time to time, but if one looks at the big picture, then a strong US presence here can only be seen as a good thing, a safe option, a pretty darn good insurance policy against North Korea trying anything major on.

Almost 60 years we’ve had US troops over here without any major problems. In fact, many major problems (a full-scale Nork attack comes to mind) have arguably been averted thanks to this presence.

So, why the rush to leave Iraq essentially free of any US military  before even a decade is up and before, as is clear now, the job is done?

OK, so perhaps it’s a bit like comparing apples and oranges. US troops in Korea, aside from those stationed at the DMZ, aren’t on active duty as they were in Iraq.

However, it’s not a completely dissimilar situation. Perhaps a good analogy would be to compare mandarins and oranges.

US troops not only provided safety and stability in the fledgling democracy that is Iraq – a country still steeped with sectarian and tribal rivalries – but surely they also provided a deterrence to anybody or any groups who want to destabilise the nation.

What takes years to build can take mere seconds to destroy, and I fear a lot of hard work is being undone on the whim of a flawed, feel-good, ideology.

So why?

The only practical reason that I can see for Obama pulling his troops out of Iraq is that with an Iranian confrontation looming which includes action needed in Syria, Iraq frankly isn’t important enough any more or at best, an impractical option for a potentially over-stretched military.

Of course, Obama – a man of the progressive Left – can’t actually come out and say that but it is reasonably well-known to those who don’t just get their news from the MSM that Obama is actually more of a war-time president than Bush was, having committed more troops to both Iraq and Afghanistan, and for a longer period of time.

So whilst the MSM might play along with the “bringing the troops home” narrative, the evidence indicates this simply isn’t the case.

Some 20,000 marines, seamen and air crews from half a dozen countries, a US nuclear aircraft carrier strike group and three US Marine gunship carriers are practicing an attack on a fictitious mechanized enemy division which has invaded its neighbor. It is the largest amphibian exercise seen in the West for a decade, staged to simulate a potential Iranian invasion of an allied Persian Gulf country and a marine landing on the Iranian coast. Based largely on US personnel and hardware, French, British, Italian, Dutch, Australian* and New Zealand military elements are integrated in the drill.
Bold Alligator went into its operational phase Monday, Feb. 6, the same day as a large-scale exercise began in southern Iran opposite the Strait of Hormuz. This simultaneity attests to the preparations for a US-Iranian showdown involving Israel behind the words on Feb. 5 of US President Barack Obama (“I don’t think Israel has decided whether to attack Iran”) and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Feb. 3 (“The war itself will be ten times as detrimental to the US.”).

(*BTW, I don’t recall Aussie PM Gillard highlighting that one.)

And this:

As the US and Israel carried on bickering over the right time to strike Iran’s nuclear sites, their war preparations continued apace. debkafile’s military sources report that flight after flight of US warplanes and transports were to be seen this week cutting eastward through the skies of Sinai on their way to Gulf destinations, presumably Saudi Arabia, at a frequency not seen in the Middle East for many years.

Add into this mix reports that China will reportedly help Saudi Arabia build a nuclear bomb, and that both China and India have started paying Iran for its oil in gold thus helping thwart current US/UN sanctions (more of which were recently thwarted by Russia and China), then we see a stage set for a showdown and we see the reality that rhetoric aside, Obama won’t be bringing many troops home at all.

To someone who doesn’t know any better, it’s as if Russia, India, and China – all wannabe first chickens to the trough – are ganging up on America.**

PS Who wouldn’t love to be a fly on the wall listening in to what the US is really saying about China? Their ever-expanding use of soft power is in many ways, stuffing it all up for America. China must surely be becoming an ever-increasing pain in the neck.

This leaves Australia in an interesting position. Our main export partner is China. Our main ally is the US. We send China our goodies to help them get rich and rival America. We practice shooting our guns with America to help keep America on top.

And yet China and America are also so deep in each other’s pockets. America buys China’s goods. China buys America’s debt.

Fun times.

** I highly recommend reading The Lucifer Principle by Howard Bloom. Part of the book talks about the pecking order of nations.

#ProTip for Following the GOP Primaries

I find the GOP debates & endless caucus coverage marginally more bearable if I turn down the volume and use the Benny Hill theme song as a soundtrack instead. Here’s a 10-hour loop (!) which might come in handy as Super Tuesday looms…

N.B. Works equally well as an accompaniment to Australian Parliamentary Question Time coverage.

So which one?

Which Republican presidential nominee?

Having just spent an hour or so watching the New Hampshire GOP Republican debate, having gleaned various tidbits over the internet since a while back, I can honestly say I don’t know.

Yet.

In comments at that link, Ron Paul’s supporters come across as a tad too fervent, as does Paul himself. He just comes across as a bit whiney. Quick to complain about a problem but a bit wishy washy with any solutions.

Romney arguably won, but he comes off as Obama-lite+religion. He’s big government but I will say he’s tending to own his opponents. He does look presidential and has the establishment’s backing… not necessarily a good thing when up against Obama who REALLY has the Establishment’s backing and REALLY (at least) talks presidential (except here where he sounds about as formidable as Julia Gillard).

Romney won Iowa – at least according to the AP and WaPo

 

If you get your news from any American paper that subscribes to the Associated Press feed (such as the Washington Post), you might be thinking right about now that the Team Elephant presidential primaries have resolved into a two-man race: “front runner” Mitt “Presidential Hair” Romney, and Rick “Bomb the shit out of Iran!” Santorum.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has won most of the delegates in the Iowa Republican caucuses, edging former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. Romney won a projected 13 delegates and Santorum won 12. Texas Rep. Ron Paul was shut out.

Wow, it doesn’t get any clearer than that. It looks like Dr. Paul and the remaining warm bodies still running are shit outta luck.

Just one problem: it’s a complete lie.

The fact is, Romney and Santorum TIED Ron Paul with seven delegates each. Newt Gingrich and Governor Perry Gardacil are still alive with two delegates each.

So why do you suppose that the AP and WaPo are reporting factual untruth? I mean, aside from the fact that Big Media (the BM for short) generally tends to side with Big Government politicians?

I’ll leave that to you to decide. My opinion is that it is part of an intentional push to eliminate the “anti-Romney” candidates who actually stand a chance of beating “The Hair”. “The Warhead” doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning this or any other election, so he’s safe (from the perspective of the Elephant elites) to leave in the race.

The BM doesn’t just report on the presidential races. It influences them as well. On purpose.

Self-inflicted wound

And here I was worried that the media, the Team Elephant establishment, and the other GOP candidates were going to take down Ron Paul. It appears he’s pretty good at it himself.

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Ron Paul is taking “no comment” to a whole new level.

The Republican presidential candidate walked out on a CNN interview Wednesday following a heated discussion over racist newsletters that were sent out in his name more than two decades ago.

The usually mild-mannered, Texas congressman – who’s leading in some Iowa polls – became irked when network reporter Gloria Borger pressed Paul about the newsletters.

Paul said he was sick of being “pestered” by reporters about the issue.

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*face palm*

He can’t seriously believe that he can withstand allegations of racism and bigotry by running away, can he? I admire the guy, to be sure, but even I have issues with the way he handled this.

*sigh* I guess I’d better get used to the term “President Romney” in 2013.

And it begins…

The pattern has been played out over and over. A potential Team Elephant presidential candidate starts to rise in the polls. A bulls-eye is affixed to that candidate. A combination of Republican elites, their allies in the punditocracy, and Big Media (the BM for short), which simply can’t help itself when an opportunity to dump on a Republican presents itself, begin hammering on any and all perceived defects of said candidate. Next thing you know, the new frontrunner is cast on the scrap heap, either to quit (like Herman Cain) or to flounder haplessly trying to regain momentum (like Michele Bachmann and Governor Perry Gardasil).

Now that Newt Gingrich is dropping faster than shares in Freddie Mac, Ron Paul has surged into a virtual tie and perhaps even the lead in Iowa.

That’s bad.

“Vulture, WTF? I though you were a Paul guy.” I am. Which is why I’m dreading what awaits. A decent and honorable man is about to be dragged through the slime, called everything but a child of God, and accused of all sorts of thought crimes ranging from racism to anti-Americanism.

Think I’m kidding. The threats have already started from the faux conservative media.

The establishment Elephants will NOT tolerate any attempt by the American people to choose a candidate other than Mitt Romney (and his presidential hair). They don’t care who they wreck in the process.

And we wonder why we have the caliber of candidates we have. Only the bravest, the most foolish, or the most power-mad need apply. Decent people need not apply.

The fix is in

During the 2008 presidential election cycle, I wrote over 60 posts — including extensive analysis of the primaries and conventions — at my personal blog, The Vulture Lurks (recommended by 4 out of 5 curmudgeons). So far this election cycle I’ve written a handful of minor posts. Why the drop-off? That’s easy. This isn’t an election we’re witnessing. It’s a coronation, at least on the Team Elephant side of the ledger.

Why would I call it a coronation? How could I call it a coronation when there is no clear front-runner and the first primary hasn’t even occurred yet? Follow along as I read the tea leaves.

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Conservative media: Fox News (“fair” and “balanced”) is in the tank for Romney. Big time. Some of Fox’s so-called analysts are so far up Romney’s butt that they taste his lunch mere seconds after he does.

Fox has proclaimed Romney winner of nearly all of the debates. Yet after one of the debates, Michele Bachmann surged into the lead in the polls. After another, it was Herman Cain. After yet another, it was Newt Gingrich. You should be getting the idea by now. No matter Romney’s showing, he’s the winner.

Every time Fox gets on the subject of the “Primary front runners”, Romney’s name is first on their lips. No matter where he is in the latest polling, first, second, even FOURTH, he is always “a front runner”. Meanwhile, if he is first or second, NO ONE beyond second place gets a mention. Hell, when he was in fourth place in an Iowa poll recently, the candidate ahead of him, Ron Paul, was omitted from mention in the front runners discussion. But not Mitt.

Talk radio isn’t quite as blatant; in fact, many talk show hosts are reluctant to be seen as endorsing anyone, such is the general distaste for Romney among the listening public. But almost without fail, all talk show hosts assert that no matter who the Republican nominee is, no matter how much they might deviate from conservative principles, we HAVE TO vote for them – ANYONE but Obama. Never mind that a vote for Romney is a vote for “Obama-lite”. You gotta do it!

Columnists of various stripes have wandered hither and yon regarding Romney. But two powerhouse conservative pundits have lined up foursquare behind him: Ann Coulter and Charles Krauthammer. Both of these two alleged conservatives have shelved principle and gone with “electable” as be-all/end-all for their candidate. Never mind that it was said of Ronald Reagan in 1980 that he was unelectable. This is different.

Bang the war drums: Every candidate still in the race, with the exception of Ron Paul, is obsessed with proving their warrior bona fides. “I would go to war with Iran NOW!”, one after another will thunder. The audience (God help us!) eats that shit up. It would appear that so-called conservatives have bought into the propaganda that never-ending pre-emptive war is “defense”. Again, God help us!

One is left in amazement that a candidate can spew vitriol with regards to all of the wasteful spending in Washington, and yet opine that the military, estimated to hit around $1.4 TRILLION in spending in 2012, needs to be beefed up. We’re drowning in debt, but without war-without-end and the trillions of dollars it requires, we’re going to be overrun by cave-dwelling terrorists, and conquered.

The military-industrial complex lives and thrives.

The Team Elephant elite: They’ve made it clear for over a year – Romney is their guy. I suppose they’d settle for Gingrich in a pinch (much as they settled for McCommie last cycle, when Rudy Giuliani was their preference). But they’re adamant. It WILL be Romney or an equally conviction-free statist. Period.

Do you really think the attacks on Governor Perry Gardacil, Herman Cain, and Michele Bachmann happened because Big Media (the BM for short) hates “real” conservatives and wanted to destroy them? Those attacks were friendly fire. Those attacks were orchestrated. Don’t be surprised if Newt succumbs to something similar to what happened to Cain between now and mid-January.

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“Okay, Vulture. You believe there’s a coronation afoot. What do you say we do about it, smart guy?”

What CAN we do? Truthfully, we in the West have gone so far down the slippery slope to ruin that I don’t think it matters any more who we elect.We might crash and burn and start to recover sooner with one candidate over another.

But crash and burn we shall.

A Decade of Tim Blair — Blogger, Legend

Gavin Atkins at Asian Correspondent marks the milestone:

Blogger/journalist Tim Blair has never been one to take a lot of notice of plaudits, awards or milestones – in fact, he assiduously ignores them – but the recent passing 10-year anniversary of his blog should not go by without comment.

For many Australians of a conservative or libertarian bent, about ten years ago, just reading or watching the news was like being asked to wade through a floating garbage dump of dogma to try and read what was written on the ground. What’s more, most of us were left cursing, as only the most watered down of our thoughts would ever make it through as a letter to the editor.

Tim Blair changed all that with his blog that tackled the idiocies of the left pretty much as they happened. His blog filled a niche that conservatives were crying out for, and his comment sections soon became almost as entertaining as the articles. […]

Along the way, he has invented terms such as Blair’s Law and the Gore Effect as well as alerting the world to the alarming tendency of lefties to tilt their heads in photographs.

And then there’s the Plastic Turkey meme, the new verbs “to beclown” and “to Fisk,” and probably a whole lot more that others can add in comments.

One thing Gavin didn’t mention was how global Tim Blair’s appeal has turned out to be  – in fact, one sledge often thrown at him by some of his resident trolls is that he has “too many” American fans and commenters.  For some reason, his Leftoid Australian detractors believed that was some sort of fatal “gotcha”.

Ah, his trolls!  Not only have Tim’s blogging efforts attracted some of the most clever and witty commenters over the years, they’ve seen him collect some of the most dedicated, demented, obsessive and sometimes just chuckleheadedly-silly assortment of sockpuppets and trolls ever seen in one place.

Go over and read Gavin’s whole piece, and be sure to leave your thoughts & favourite memories/recollections in comments either here or there.

Happy Tenth Blogiversary, Tim!

P.S. Where’s Wronwright with that mead…?

P.P.S. As our blogroll has been rather neglected of late, if you are one of the #BlairNation troupe of bloggers (new motto, #WeAreUs – thanks Julia!) and aren’t listed over on the right-hand side there ——->
just drop your blog link in comments and we’ll get it updated. Cheers.

UPDATE:  More comments now at The Blogfather’s here:  TEN YEARS OF LOVE.  As Puce would have said, CLICK.

Music Video of the Day: Raise the Debt Ceiling rap

Via Reason.TV, by Remy (who also gave us The TSA Pokey Pokey and Why They Fought)

Lyrics:

The decline and fall of the US dollar?

This little bit of economic news seems to have quietly slid out of the papers here fairly quickly.

FMG’s trade in renminbi expected to be followed

 

Fortescue minerals group is a medium sized player in the Australian iron ore market, it appears they have more confidence in the stability of the renminbi (Chinese currency) rather than the US dollars traditionally used for international commerce.

Tie that in with the US treasuries attempts to inflate away their domestic currency crisis and we may be looking at a severe downgrading of the prestige and value of the US currency as a unit of international trade.

A resources analyst says a decision by Fortescue Metals Group to trade using the renminbi signals a shift towards widespread transactions in the Chinese currency.

Yesterday, Fortescue Metal’s boss Andrew Forrest announced his group had completed its first ever deal using renminbi.

It is understood FMG is the first Australian company to trade in the currency rather than in US dollars.

The first, Mr Forrest is a pretty canny bloke, it remains to be seen if his business sense is right on this one.

The Chinese currency currently has its value pegged to the US dollar, if the dollar was to freefall it would be insane for the Chinese to allow it to take their currency down as well.

What would they then peg their currency to? The Euro?, British Pound?, The Yen? risky. Its difficult to see any other currency with the same “weight” to peg against.

He said he expects other Australian companies to follow suit.

“I don’t think it’s just Australian miners, it’s the Australian economy will definitely follow this move,” he said.

“It will start the flood because it makes it much easier now to do business with China, it’s part of China’s opening up and China becoming more efficient in global engagement.” Analyst Peter Strachan says the trade makes financial sense with China the region’s dominant economic and political force.

“They’re standing up and saying it’s our time,” he said.

Mr Strachan says many Australian companies will soon be trading with China using the renminbi.

“It’s not just going to be in iron ore, it will be in jocks and socks, through to refrigerators and whatever else comes through the door.”

The US government is printing money at a record rate, in all likelihood the US dollar is overvalued due to its reserve currency/trade currency status. If it were to lose even a large percentage of that just how much could the US dollar crash?

On the upside it would make exporting US products more competitive.

On the downside….everything else.

Now Im not a clever man, but I can see the US crippling itself in an attempt to ride out a downturn. Printing currency to inflate toxic losses is WORSE than the pricing correction trying to happen will be.

Environmental activists “too polite and well behaved”; urged to “get tough”

You know what the Warmy activists’ problem is? They’ve just been too gosh darned polite & well-behaved so far. Really.

“Have we failed to slow global warming pollution in part because climate and environmental activists have been too polite and well behaved?”

Via climatenonconformist, Steve Goddard take a look at a Rolling Stone article which announces that “It’s time for climate activists to get tough.”   Because you can’t slow global warming pollution [global warming pollution??] without breaking a few eggs!

“Is it time to take to the streets, express some outrage, maybe engage in a little guerilla [sic] warfare against Big Oil and Big Coal?”

It’s not violent extremism if you’re on a mission from God Gaia.

Plus, bonus Crazy Eyes!

“In the letter by Bill McKibben, he is asking protestors “to do something hard,” which is to come to Washington ”in the hottest and stickiest weeks of the summer and engaging in civil disobedience that will quite possibly get you arrested.” ”

Yeees, Biiill.

Now here’s a thought:  What would the reaction be if those of us who don’t believe that there’s enough scientific evidence to claim that man’s CO2 emissions are heating the world to hell, and don’t believe that the government can control the world’s climate through “carbon tax” or “cap and trade” schemes, were to propose engaging in “a little guerrilla warfare” against the government and academic institutions which are threatening our economy, our jobs, our quality of life, and our childrens’ futures with their various expensive but futile plans to “stop catastrophic man-made global warming”?

We were already tagged as “extremists” (and worse) simply for holding a peaceful rally in opposition to the carbon tax.  What if we were to promise to stop being so polite and well behaved and engage instead in a little guerrilla warfare*?

Happily, that’s not our way.  But it’s evident that as their CAGW scam continues to fall apart before their very eyes, the Warmies are getting more and more frantic and more and more militant.  I just hope this doesn’t get real ugly before it’s all over.

*That was not a “death threat,” Warmies.  No need to evacuate to your secure bunkers.

Governor Moonbeam strikes again

Governor Jerry Brown of Kahleefornia must have felt that he hadn’t left enough wreckage his first stint as Governer (1975-1983), during which he earned the moniker “Governor Moonbeam” as a result of his wacky libtard ways. Apparently he learned absolutely nothing in the ensuing 28 years, because he’s still finding new and inventive ways to ruin the Golden State. Ladies and gentlemen: how NOT to generate tax revenues.

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Amazon.com today said it will sever ties with some 10,000 affiliates in California to protest the Internet sales-tax law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown Wednesday.

The big online retailer has been threatening to cut those ties since February. In emails today to its California affiliates, Amazon called the bill “unconstitutional and counterproductive. ” The bill is part of the budget package passed by the Legislature.

The affiliates are businesses and nonprofits that have Amazon links on their websites. When someone clicks through that link and buys something from Amazon, the affiliate gets a fee.

Under the bill, Amazon will have to collect sales tax on all sales to Californians.

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People like Governor Moonbeam are not called libtards for nothing. Brown knew that Amazon was going to do this because…wait for it…they’ve been telling him so since February. And yet he STILL signed the bill into law! I wonder how many jobs (and the tax revenues they provide) will be lost as a result of this ass-headed attempt to put a gun to Amazon’s head and extort tribute from them.

Asshat.

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition

Unexpectedly, the mainstream media did not expect Obama to end up making such a hash of the American economy…

Aurelius at Pundit Press fingers the MSM for apparently being in a constant state of shock that the completely expected is happening, and that Obama-nomics simply isn’t delivering.

“Whenever poor business, house, or job news comes out, they are quick to throw on the word ‘unexpectedly,’ pretending that the economy is actually doing great, but this one time it hiccuped.”

Unexpectedly.

via iowntheworld.com

Weiner Pulls Out

It’s the end of an error. Weiner’s out.

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Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) will resign from his seat in Congress, heeding calls from President Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and dozens of other congressional Democrats, sources confirm to POLITICO. The resignation ends nearly three weeks of tumultuous political controversy since the New York congressman sent a lewd picture of himself over Twitter which he claimed at first was a result of a hack, and later admitted he had sent himself.

Weiner is expected to make his resignation official in a statement to the press at a senior center in Brooklyn at 2 pm.

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Weiner pulled out at senior center? Think of the poor old women!

The schadenfreude has been beyond blissful. A creepy libtard is caught flashing his namesake. Caught lying about it. Accused of asking a former prØn star to lie for him.

There’s the name. The jokes. The throngs laughing in his face.

Good bye, Weiner. At Tizona, we prefer Bush.

Candidate for the Elephant Elite

I’ve made no secret of my loathing for “The Hairdo”, AKA Mitt Romney. He’s the poster child for RINOs. He’s a gigantic flip-flopping fraud. And now, once again, he’s running for President.

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Romney declared to cheers on a sunny farm in southern New Hampshire, “I’m Mitt Romney and I believe in America. And I’m running for president of the United States.”

The former governor and business executive aggressively challenged Democratic President Obama while trying to pitch himself to the coalition that makes up the modern GOP: fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, evangelicals and libertarians. Romney included nods to all as he sought to make himself the candidate with the broadest appeal and best shot at sending Obama home to Chicago as a one-term president.

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Yeah, he’s trying to appeal to everybody. He certainly appeals to the Elephant Elitists, who have all but anointed him as The Chosen One. But if you really examine who he is and what he represents, he certainly won’t appeal to YOU.

• He’s pro-Big Government, as shown by his Massachusetts Health Care “solution”.
• He’s foursquare in favor of King George the Dim’s War Without End.
• He favors Corporate Welfare, such as ethanol subsidies.
• He claims to be “Pro Life”…but his record is anything but.
• He flip-flops on a regular basis on immigration.
• Worst of all: he believes in man-made global warming (AGW).

Anyone who purports to be a “conservative” who supports this tool is a waste of oxygen and should be forcibly prohibited from voting.

The irony of the situation is mind-blowing. Ron Paul is “extreme” and “unelectable”. But Mitt Romney? Why, he’s everything a “conservative” could ever wish for!

Except conservative.

Congressman(‘s) Weiner

Some guys just never learn. Sean Salisbury. Brett Favre. And now aptly-named Congress-critter Anthony “wanna see my” Weiner.

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Our debt ceiling is yet to be raised as the healthcare debate looms large, yet the most important political news of the moment revolves around a Brooklyn representative’s penis.

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As Weiner himself noted, “The jokes write themselves.”

I thought Weiner was a little stiff at his news converence.

What’s the difference between a Democrat and a Republican? About 6 inches.

An inch more he’d be a king; an inch less he’d be a queen.

The police investigated whether a penis picture was displayed. The case was thrown out due to lack of evidence.

(Insert the “wiener” joke of your choice here)

THE Herman Cain! Presidential Announcement Video

More at The Blaze.

If you’re on Twitter, follow THE Herman Cain & the Cain press office.

Go, Citizen Cain!

UPDATE:  And in case anyone’s interested, the rest of the potential field: The 2012 Candidates Not Named “Herman”

UPDATE 2: Lots of good stuff at Citizens4Cain, including 5 reasons not to dismiss him as a serious contender.

Acknowledging the obvious (sort of)

Sometimes something is so apparent that even Big Media (the BM for short) has to acknowledge it. Okay, so in this case it’s ex-BM. But it still stands as acknowledged.

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Several veteran and prize-winning journalists who covered presidents from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush say that the current crop of White House correspondents are too timid and deferential and have played a role in killing the impact of presidential news conferences.

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Unfortunately, what DIDN’T get acknowledged is the lapdog deference the press corp has for Il Duce.  I guess you can’t have everything…

The BM’istas try to create the illusion that the deference shown Il Duce was also extended to King George the Dim.

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“If you watch an Obama news conference, and watched a Bush news conference previous to that, where correspondents sit in their seats with their hands folded on their laps, [it’s] as if they are in the room with a monarch and they have to wait to be recognized by the president,” says Sid Davis, the former NBC Washington bureau chief who covered nine presidents. “It looks like they are watching a funeral service at [Washington funeral firm] Joseph Gawler’s and it shouldn’t be that way.”

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Nothing could be further from the truth. Bush was treated with a hostility previously reserved for Richard Nixon by the BM during his 8 hapless years in office.

I have no love for George Bush. But let’s tell a straight story, shall we? The deference issue is specific to Obama. Period.

It remains to be seen if the White House press corps’ behavior will change [/sarcasm].

The truth is, the only thing that will make the White House press corps return to a position of asking tough questions and being confrontational is a change of president.

Trump dumped

So we see over at Bolt’s Palace this morning that the Donald has pulled out of the US presidential Republican nomination.

Well, it’s doubtful anyone’s surprised. And yeeees, this certain blogger did like what Trump was offering, even whilst knowing most conservative bloggers (libertarian here) didn’t want a bar of him. A lot of it was that breath of fresh air factor he brought to the debate. And I still think no other Republican that has been offered up will be capable of beating Obama.

Happy to be proved wrong, but there you go.

And I still think a successful businessperson would be ideal for the US’ top job, especially considering the deficit and debt. So I guess that leaves me favouring Romney, however, lately, one’s ear hasn’t been kept that close to the political – let alone the US political – ground.

Who’s been looking good lately, folks, and why?

PS Thanks for all the email updates JM even though there wasn’t any time to use them.

x-posted

UPDATE

Herman Cain?

Sneaky edit under the fold….

And it begins…

(Cross-posted from The Vulture Lurks)

You knew it was coming. After all, you can’t just kill Usama bin Laden and declare victory. Oh no. You have to milk the sumbitch for all it’s worth. Welcome to 2001, the sequel.

An advisory has been sent to law enforcement officials advising them to be vigilant about train security based on information uncovered after the death of Osama bin Laden, officials said.

Officials stressed the advisory is general in nature and the information apparently uncovered from the bin Laden compound dates back more than a year.

According to NBC News, U.S. officials say they have not found reference to specific plots. Instead, they say they’ve found what they call “aspirational” items — events al-Qaida operatives were interested in trying to make happen.

I see. So…we’re in a heightened state of alert and expected to endure God-knows-what in the name of “security” based on…al-Qaida’s wishlist????

*bangs head on wall*

Levin rips Donald Trump to shreds

There’s James Board’s unedifying man-crush on Trump*, and then there’s reality…

Levin points out many things about Trump that show he is no conservative, but a few of the glaring ones are the fact that he support Charlie Crist over Marco Rubio twice, as well as calling for the impeachment of George W. Bush, accusing him of lying to get us in the war. Oh yeah, and he supported Universal Health Care in America, the Canadian style.

And there’s more. This is a must listen.

And where the hell was he during the last few years of the Tea Party’s birth and rise, and the battles it was fighting?

President Trump?  Not. Gonna. Happen.

*LOL. You know I still love ya, man 😉

UPDATE:  Shy retiring type @DanRiehl has a word in the Trump fanbois’ shell-likes.  Heh.

via The Right Scoop and Mark Levin

President Trump? Not. Gonna. Happen.

James Board begs to disagree.  Seriously?

Obama on the 2nd Amendment

That looks loud.

In the past, Obama’s position on the second amendment has been less than ideal.

While the Obama administration hasn’t mentioned the Second Amendment by name, it seems he may have recently had a change of opinion.

The new opinion takes the much more hardcore view that because the authority of a government is derived from the consent of the governed then owning guns is important as sometimes it is necessary to use arms to assert that consent (or lack thereof) and overthrow a government.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed for the first time in London that the United Nations resolution did allow for the ”legitimate transfer of arms” to rebels if a nation chose to do so.

”Our interpretation of 1973 amended is that it overrode the absolute prohibition of arms to anyone in Libya … so there could be legitimate transfer of arms if a country chose to do that. We have not made that decision at this time,” she said.

Not even a mention of any plans to do background checks for the new owners!

I know, I know. You might be skeptical. But we also know that his administration allowed known gunrunners to transport thousands of guns into Mexico.  Granted, allowing guns to Mexican drug gangs instead of the law abiding seems like a questionable idea.

I suppose that arming people in other countries might be the first step to acknowledging that people in his own country aren’t “bitter clingers.”

EAT THE RICH… but you’ll be hungry again an hour later.

This excellent video by Bill Whittle, featuring some statistics from Iowahawk’s “Feed Your Family on $10 Billion a Day”, is definitely worth nine minutes of your time.  Michael Moore makes an appearance though, so best not watch whilst eating.

More good stuff at Bill Whittle’s Declaration Entertainment, and see also Iowahawk‘s post above & Allahpundit‘s “Why can’t we balance the budget by confiscating super-rich people’s money?” featuring video by Mary Katharine Ham.  H/T HotAir.